Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Bump in the Road for a Special Greyhound . . .

It's been less than a week since I posted Part 1 of "For the Love of Dogs" . . . .a tribute to the various dogs that my husband Lee and I have been honored to own and care for over the past 20+ years. I had been planning that last post for a while, letting it take shape it in my mind over several weeks. And, I'm so glad that I posted it when I did. . . . .. Because, as it turns out, just a few days ago, our eldest and very special greyhound, Ride, with whom Lee and I have shared the past 10 years, began to show troubling signs of significant illness. I took Ride into our veterinarian yesterday to be checked, and it appears that she has a tumor of one of her mammary glands, which is likely malignant.

We are awaiting biopsy results, which should come in by tomorrow or the next day. We will then need to decide, in consultation with our vet, what treatment options are possible. In the meantime, the vet put Ride on an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory medication, and a pain medication. It's clear that poor Ride is not feeling well, and we're trying our best to get her to eat nutritious foods. Since she's been refusing her regular food we've begun to cook "people" food for her . . . chicken and hamburger with rice, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes not. Both Lee and I are very saddened by this turn of events. But, we also realize that Ride is approaching 13 years of age, which is somewhat elderly for a greyhound. So, we're trying to prepare ourselves for whatever may come. Please keep our sweet little greyhound girl in your thoughts and prayers.